Why does the login check take longer if the password is wrong?
Have you ever wondered why it takes longer for your PC (Windows/Linux or Mac) to tell you that you password you just entered is wrong? "Longer" compared to the case when you insert the password correctly.
It turns out the extra delay is introduced on purpose just for safety reasons.
The operating systems takes longer to answer to a wrong password simply to "piss off" possible intruders who usually try a list of passwords to access your system.
Basically, it's a very simple and effective way to limit how fast passwords can be checked.
Sources:
stackoverflow.com
superuser.com
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